How So Many Bad Ideas Manage to Win on Election Day
Tags Bureaucracy and Regulation
11/07/2018Gary Galles
Every other year, the run-up to election day reminds me of an irony about the “wonders of democracy†rhetoric that peaks then--that is also when the misrepresentations poured into voters’ ears, undermining the likelihood of achieving those wonders, also peak.
The reason is well-captured by a quote from Jonathan Swift, in 1710: “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.†At the last minute, lies, damned lies and statistics, not to mention unsupported claims, rumors, innuendo, etc., can have their greatest power, because there is not time for serious thought, research, and effective rebuttal before voters must cast what will therefore be far more misinformed ballots.
https://mises.org/wire/how-so-many-bad-ideas-manage-win-election-day
